Vettel wins Indian Grand Prix

The media and the drivers might have really given the Indian Grand Prix the big build up, but the script followed most races this season with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel leading every lap on his way to victory.

The Formula One double World Champion got away cleanly from the lights, got into the first corner first and from then on it was plain sailing for the German.

Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber however didn’t have such a straight forward race, the Aussie first lost his second place position to McLaren’s Jenson Button when the Brit pulled over a cool overtaking manoeuvre and he then later lost third position to Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who sneaked past during one of the pit stops.

There wasn’t much action up front, but further behind McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa once again managed to steal the main talking point of the race.

With Hamilton trying to overtake the Ferrari, as has been the case on numerous occasions this season, it wasn’t too much of a surprise to the see the two cars coming together. What was a surprise however was to see the penalty for once handed to Massa.

The Indian race stewards, helped by former Formula One driver Johnny Herbert decided to give a drive-thru penalty to Massa for causing a collision.

The Brazilian could quite clearly be seen on the replays looking into his mirrors and knowing exactly where Hamilton was at all times before opting to turn in on the McLaren driver.

Hamilton had got virtually side by side on the inside of Massa, before pulling out of the move and breaking earlier, but the Ferrari gave him no room and they collided.

Later Hamilton told Autosport Magazine: ‘I tried to overtake and I tried to come out of it because it didn’t look like he was going to give me any space, and we collided. I’m really, really sorry for my team.’

Unsurprisingly Massa didn’t agree adding: ‘My view is that I was in front, I braked later than him and I was in front, I was on the grippy area as well and then I started to turn and I didn’t see him on the left as he was behind, He touched my rear wheel. So, to be honest I don’t understand why I have the penalty. It is not really understandable.’

Shortly after taking the drive-thru penalty Massa was forced to retire when he broke his front suspension after hitting a high curb on the inside of the corner.

Hamilton struggled for the remainder of the race, was forced to pit for a new front wing and felt he lost the balance of his car he went on to finish seventh behind the two Mercedes.

Jaime Alguersuari completed a strong weekend for Toro Rosso finishing eighth a lap down and scoring four points, Adrian Sutil under pressure for his race seat in 2012 finished ninth to score two points for Force India, whilst Sergio Perez finished tenth to score a point for Sauber.

Toro Rosso are now level on points with Sauber in the F1 constructors standings in seventh. Force India remain ten-points clear in sixth, while Renault look set to hold on to fifth as they still remain twenty-one points clear.

McLaren clinched second place in the standings with 24-points earned by Button and Hamilton.